SearchEnterpriseLinux: Linux Analysts, Users Offer Varied Predictions on SCO Suit

[ Thanks to Michael S. Mimoso for this link. ]

"In the six days since SCO Group filed suit against IBM Corp. as part of a dispute over Linux, there's been no shortage of people wanting to weigh in on what it all means. Hundreds of people have posted messages about the issue on the Slashdot.org bulletin board. Meanwhile, vendors have tried to position themselves in ways that will be most reassuring to their customers. And Linux enthusiasts everywhere have fumed.

"But the cacophony of voices has yet to produce any clarity on the issue, as industry watchers offer radically different views on the potential import of SCO's claim that IBM improperly donated portions of SCO's System V Unix code to the Linux kernel.

"'This is definitely the biggest thing that's happened in Linux and open-source since I've been covering it,' said Bill Claybrook, a Boston-area analyst with Aberdeen Group since 1999, a one-time Unix kernel developer and a former professor of computer science. 'It's hard to know what will come out of it. Is SCO going to make them rip all the code out of Linux? Think of the uncertainty and the fear. There's nothing good coming out of this for Linux.'

"Others, however, say that SCO's 31-page claim is short on specifics and is evidence of the company's weak market position..."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• CNET News: IBM Unfazed by SCO Unix Threat(Mar 11, 2003)
• MozillaQuest: SCO-Caldera v IBM: Linus Torvalds Comments on SCO-Caldera's Linux-Related Allegations(Mar 10, 2003)
• Linux Journal: SCO: We're After IBM, not Linux Developers(Mar 08, 2003)
• LWN: A Look at the SCO Complaint(Mar 07, 2003)